MILWAUKEE — The Phillies can’t make teams want to trade for their players. But they can make teams more desperate to find help somewhere.

They might be doing that to the Brewers this week.

Milwaukee, which rode a fast start to a lead in the National League Central they haven’t relinquished since taking the division over April 4, feels the Cardinals breathing on their necks as their pitching staff begins to show signs of fraying.

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When the Phillies are racking up runs against your pitchers, that’s when you know you have problems that need addressing. That’s exactly what the Phils did Tuesday night, beating up Wily Peralta and overcoming another rough first inning by Kyle Kendrick to win their second straight at Miller Park, 9-7, over the Brewers.

The Phillies offered Kendrick a lead in the top of the first, as Ben Revere opened the game with a single to center, moved to second on a wild pitch, then to third when Jimmy Rollins slapped a grounder to first. Chase Utley scored Revere with a sacrifice fly.

As has been tradition, Kendrick threw beach balls instead of baseballs in his first inning of work.

Even with Carlos Gomez opening the bottom of the first with a ground out, the Brewers managed to throw up a five-spot. Scooter Gennett tied it when he lined his seventh homer of the season into the right-field seats. From there, Kendrick resorted to nibbling, giving up a single to Jonathan Lucroy, then walking Aramis Ramirez and Khris Davis to load the bases.

You could smell what was coming.

Lyle Overbay got a 1-1 fastball on his hands and yanked it into the seats for a grand slam. Suddenly, the Phillies trailed by four.

Minutes later it was as if that disaster never happened.

For the second straight night the Brewers had a starting pitcher struggle to get anything accomplished. Peralta’s second inning started with some tough luck — Byrd had an infield single, and that was followed by one of the most bizarre hits you’ll ever see by Cody Asche, who cued a soft liner that landed directly on third base and bound away from Ramirez for another infield hit. Brown walked to load the bases and Koyie Hill made it three infield hits when his bleeder to the right side was knocked down by Gennett at second, but the veteran catcher just beat the throw.

After Kendrick grounded into a force at home, Revere hit one that not even Milwaukee’s speedy trio of outfielders could track down — a 380-foot drive that bounced off the warning track and over the right center-field fence for a two-run double that cut the deficit to 5-4. After Rollins walked, Utley gave the Phils the lead with a single to right.

Amazingly, that lead survived eight more innings of chances for the Brew Crew.

The Phils added one insurance run in the third when Brown — who hit balls as hard as he has at any point in this miserable season — smoked a solo homer off Peralta. They would get two more in the fifth after Peralta walked Howard and gave up a double to Asche, then handed it over to southpaw reliever Tom Gorzelanny. Brown delivered again, stroking a two-run single to right and putting the Phils up, 9-5.

It wouldn’t come that easily. After righting the ship for four scoreless innings, Kendrick found trouble again in the sixth when Mark Reynolds stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter and cranked his 14th homer of the season into the right-field seats. Kendrick would give up two more hits in the inning, a bloop single to left by Gennett and a double by Lucroy to right that Byrd nicely cut off and got in quickly to keep Gennett from scoring.

That ended Kendrick’s night, as Justin De Fratus came in to bail him out. Despite falling behind 3-1 to Ramirez, De Fratus threw a nice off-speed pitch that tricked the veteran, as he rolled over it and bounced out to Rollins to end the inning.

The Brewers’ last real opportunity came in the eighth against Ken Giles. The rookie gave up a single to Jeff Bianchi, then saw Gomez smartly make the right read and drop a bunt single to put the tying run on base with one out.

Giles didn’t panic. He got away with a fat pitch to Gennett, who lined it directly at Brown in left, then Giles got Lucroy to ground out softly to Rollins to end the threat.

Mets 8, Braves 3

NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Jacob deGrom struck out 11 in seven shutout innings and also delivered a table-setting hit from the No. 8 spot in the batting order and New York tagged All-Star Julio Teheran and Atlanta.

Curtis Granderson kept up his resurgence with a leadoff home run and Lucas Duda doubled twice, singled and drew two walks. Daniel Murphy also doubled twice and third baseman David Wright added two of New York’s 18 hits and made a nifty catch.

The shaggy-haired deGrom (2-5) pitched the Mets to their third win in a row, and the franchise’s 4,000th victory since starting out as an expansion team in 1962. Atlanta has lost three straight.

Reds 4, Cubs 2

CINCINNATI — Jay Bruce returned to right field and hit another two-run homer, and Johnny Cueto extended his winning streak against Chicago, leading Cincinnati to a victory in the opener of a doubleheader.

The Reds put first baseman Joey Votto back on the disabled list before the game, hoping a strained muscle above his left knee will heal enough to let him play this season. They’re using different players — including Bruce — at the position for now.

Bruce played first base for the first time since high school and hit a two-run homer in his final at-bat during a 9-3 win on Monday night in the opener of the five-game series. He was back in the outfield and homered again in the first inning off left-hander Travis Wood (7-7).

Indians 5, Yankees 3

CLEVELAND — Michael Brantley homered and had three RBIs, Nick Swisher hit a go-ahead two-run shot and Cleveland stopped rookie sensation Masahiro Tanaka’s bid to become the major league’s first 13-game winner.

Brantley hit a leadoff homer in the seventh. The first-time All-Star also had RBI doubles in the first and fifth, raising his average to .328.

Tanaka (12-4) allowed season worsts of five runs and 10 hits in 6 2-3 innings. The right-hander, who lost for the third time in four starts, took a 3-2 lead into the sixth before Swisher, a former Yankee, hit a two-run homer that put Cleveland on top.

Trevor Bauer (3-4) allowed three runs in seven innings and retired 13 of the last 14 hitters he faced. New York’s only baserunner in that stretch came on Swisher’s fifth-inning error. Bauer struck out six and walked two in winning for the first time since June 16.

White Sox 8, Red Sox 3

BOSTON — Conor Gillaspie hit a tie-breaking, two-run homer in the sixth inning for his third hit of the game and Chicago beat struggling Boston.

Boston lost for the seventh time in eight games as the defending World Series champions remained in last place in the AL East.

The White Sox are 5-1 in their past six games. John Danks (8-6) started with four shutout innings on Tuesday night after Hector Noesi beat Seattle 1-0 on Sunday and Scott Carroll won 4-0 on Monday night when Boston had just two hits.

The White Sox squandered a 3-0 lead when the Red Sox tied it with three runs in the fifth. But Chicago went ahead to stay with two in the sixth and then added three runs in the ninth.

Jose Abreu led off the sixth with a single against Brandon Workman (1-3) and stayed at first when the next two batters were retired. Then Gillaspie hit a 3-and-2 pitch just inside the pole in right field for his second homer of the season.